Confronting the Shadow and the Devil

Confronting the shadow sounds easier said than done, to confront our own shadow requires a level of skill to detach from the ego for a moment and look at what triggers us, what makes us cringe, what we are judging in others, what we don't like in the world,etc. To just look at these things within ourselves without judging,criticizing or shaming ourselves. We must also look even deeper to our past in our childhood and see where we even learned these certain behaviors and narratives that we keep with us. Where is the root of all this? Well the only way to know is to look within go on the journey and just take one step at a time, there is no rush to this and there is no knowing how long this takes. To my experience I believe this is something that is a continual journey for us while we walk the physical planes of this earth.

I will share my personal experience so far with my own shadow and things I have come to face and work through and found some healing and wisdom through it. My recent relationship with my ex partner revealed some surprises within myself that I didn't know was lingering in the shadows, when we first met all the excitement and butterflies were there and ready for a fresh start. When we finally had time alone and we talked he shared with me some things from his past that he was upfront and honest with which I knew from there that this was no relationship like I had before. Through their recovery from sobriety they had to be honest with anyone they came in contact with romantically, such things like their using of drugs etc from their past and how their teeth were messed up and mind as well. I knew what I was getting into and I sat with myself and without judging and laughing or saying " eww" I just embraced him and thanked him for being so vulnerable with me. The things he thought were ugly and could not stand about himself I just loved and accepted about him. I knew that his past didn't define him it was just where he was at that time and had to go through in order to learn more about himself.

Unfortunately when it came to me he struggled with a deeper truth from his past that he denied in the relationship, he thought he could just look past but when it came up he was confronted with the shadow of his past and this shadow presented itself as no other then the " DEVIL". Now for those who don't know I have come to terms with this in my life and I have found through my own practices and struggles with this myself that what we were taught (through a christian perspective) who the "devil" is. This evil figure who is here to cause havoc and destroy humanity and poison and torture and needs to be slayed or conquered by God. I would have loved to have shared with him that this was a half truth and not the full entire picture, ask questions and discover together historical and folk-lore about the 'devil' (not from a christian perspective) but from a witches POV. Or just from a non biased view that wasn't tainted from some religious/political view.

This understanding could have brought us closer and shed some light on some old out dated beliefs that even then could have been educational regardless. Because he was in AA meetings through his sobriety he was conditioned from a christian POV. Without ever questioning what was being given to him he took it because he was coming from a traumatic life of hard drugs, alcohol, stealing, surviving on the streets no where to go this was the only way. Now I'm not saying that this is bad and has helped many recovering addicts get back on track, at the same time its targeting the weak and vulnerable to believe that where they came from and the life they lived and the choices they made were all from the "devil".

To be continued...